Wednesday, September 26, 2012

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita Review

LittleBigPlanet
has been a hallmark series on the PlayStation 3. It features light-hearted
story, simple yet delightful gameplay, and a community base that provides new
levels to play almost daily. At its core, LBP
is just another platformer with a unique level creation tool, but the visual
mishmash of elements, upbeat music, and drop-in drop-out cooperative play were
what separated it from the rest. After a sequel, a portable version, and
numerous levels, costumes, and DLC have been released, all somehow managing to
maintain the same atmosphere, can LittleBigPlanet
PS Vita hope to bottle the same lightning its predecessors have?

When the Vita was released, Little Deviants was its Wii Sports—an
interesting game with little substance that just showed off what the hardware
could do. I think Sony would have done itself a favor, however, if they had
just gotten LittleBigPlanet PS Vita
in development earlier and had it ready for launch. Simply put, it shows off
exactly what the Vita can do in a way that has substance, meaning, and
showcases just how fun a bigger-than-pocket sized handheld can be. From puzzle
solving with touch-sensitive blocks to guiding shots with your fingers to
rotating the screen for arcade games, LittleBigPlanet
PS Vita does a marvelous job utilizing all of the Vita’s quirky technology.
Even the back touchpad is utilized in a way that’s user friendly and makes
sense—as a way to push blocks out toward the screen when you’ve pushed them
back into the background. This game marks the first time I’ve seen a game use
the touch screen or rear touchpad technologies as a gameplay mechanic and have
it not be hokey and nigh-embarrassing. Nintendo Wii still has this problem and
I’m sure Vita will too.Heck, even
Uncharted couldn’t get it right. Still, it’s nice to see that these features can
feel like part of the design and less like a slapped-on feature two weeks
before release.

The story has never really been an important or particularly
strong feature in LittleBigPlanet, but
LBPPSV (oh my, that’s a mouthful)
looks to change that paradigm. In this game, Sackboy happens upon a gateway to
Carnivalia, a travelling carnival planet that journeys across the omniverse.
Before being sucked in, a strange man named Colonel Flounder warns him away,
telling him Carnivalia has gone bad because of someone called The Puppeteer.
Now it’s Sackboy’s mission to save LittleBigPlanet from The Puppeteer and set
Carnivalia right again.

I rather like that the developers chose to have a slightly
deeper story with this game. To solidify this story in the player’s mind, the
developers chose to make the visuals have a slightly darker tone. Though it’s
still light-hearted and bright in places, the game is visually darker in many
lands, lending credence to the evilness of Carnivalia through juxtaposition. In
addition to visually reminding you of what you’re up against, the characters
drive the story home and make their worlds more personal. Though you’re still
travelling from area to area, each level reminds you of your goal by tying in
to the central theme of overthrowing the Puppeteer because he’s done something
bad to your new friends. Other LBP
games also had a similar story structure, but having a more solid goal and more
lifelike characters make you want to persevere that much more.

By lifelike characters, I don’t mean that they’re more
realistic, but rather more relatable and believable. This shift is due in no
small part to voice acting. Rather than strange babbling for each character,
they all have their own voices and tell their tales to you directly instead of
through speech bubbles. Now, characters feel less like the scenery, a major
problem in earlier LittleBigPlanet
games. Come on, which one of these do you want to help, the flat cardboard
person who looks to be part of the background or the broken doll with dimension who actually appears to be a character?

Setting the single player story aside for a moment, LittleBigPlanet PS Vita has a multitude
of minigames to manage the monotony of merriment. Jumping on platforms, pulling
switches, and grappling things is fine for a few hours, but sometimes you just
want to play a flowery version of Bubble Bobble while holding your Vita
sideways. All jokes aside, the selection of minigames is enormous, and most of
them are entertaining. Heck, they included an entire arcade section of the game
in addition to the minigames embedded into the story. It’s like Mario Party in
here, only with less rage and cursing Birdo.

The community feature of this game is far smaller than its
console predecessors and that’s to be expected. The smaller userbase of the
console means there are going to be even fewer people who want to take the time
to design a level, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. There are still
some really well-designed and fun community maps available, but not nearly as
many as on a console version.

It’s a shame, too, as the developers added tools that make
design easier, including touchscreen integration. They also added in the
ability to use custom images to put skins on items, or even take pictures with
the Vita. Don’t do that second part though — the camera on the Vita is about as
high quality as a webcam and it shows. Try to take a picture in low lighting
and you’ll notice every pixel. Other than the obvious hardware limitations, the
level design has never been more beginner-friendly and intuitive.

Verdict:LittleBigPlanet PS Vita is my favorite LittleBigPlanet yet. It features a
better story, improved level creation tools, and more relatable characters,
making the world far richer and more enjoyable. In fact, the only drawback of
this game is that I wish I could play it on a bigger screen using the Vita as a
controller because it’s so pretty I wish I could see more of it. Give this game
a whirl if you like any of the other LBP
games, platformers, or enjoy creating levels. It’s also a requisite to owning a
Vita, as it’s the one game that shows off what it can do without making you say
“Ugh.”

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